Xiaomi Now Valued At $45 Billion

Xiaomi, the fast-growing Chinese hardware company best known for its low-cost smartphones, confirmed today that has raised $1.1 billion in new funding at a valuation of $45 billion. In a Facebook post, Xiaomi co-founder and president Bin Lin said the round was raised from investors including All-Stars Investment, DST, GIC, Hopu Fund, and Yunfeng Capital.

The company will likely use the capital to increase sales of its smartphones in its key growth markets of India, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Mexico. In 2013, Xiaomi said it sold about 19 million phones, a number it hopes will more than double to 40 million units by the end of this year. In October, the company became the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor by shipment volume, according to both Strategy Analytics and IDC.